Three militants Killed in Jammu and Kashmir

Security forces in Tral in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwamadistrict killed three militants in a gun battle that began late Tuesday night,police officials said on Wednesday.

Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Tral late Tuesday night after a tip-off about the presence of militants there, a police official said. An encounter broke out between militants and security forces during the search operations.

Two of them were from the Hizbul Mujahideen and one from theAnsar Ghazwa ul Hind, according to an official statement. They were identifiedas Jehangir Rafiq Wani, a Hizbul commander and Uzair Amin Bhat of the sameoutfit. The third was identified as Raja Umer Maqbool Bhat of the Ansar Ghazwaul Hind. The encounter lasted two hours.

Security forces seized two assault rifles, a pistol and their ammunition besides grenades from the site of encounter. Jehangir Rafiq Wani was the Hizbul commander of the Tral area who took charge after the death of Hammad Khan in January 2020, the statement said.

The three were said to have been involved in series of terror acts including the killing of two civilians in Tral between November 2019 and February 2020 and destroying a truck in an act of arson among other offenses. Also, three were local Kashmiris.

On February 5, Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbagh Singh 20 terrorists had been killed in the union territory since the new year.